Latest Mad Max instalment races to Cannes

Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Photo: Warner Bros

Nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road, the Australian director, screenwriter and producer George Miller’s famous saga will be back at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

George Miller at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 as jury president: 'There is no better place than La Croisette to experience this film with audiences on the world stage' Photo: Richard Mowe

The eagerly awaited Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will be revealed in the presence of the director and the cast, led by Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke, at an Out of Competition gala screening at the Grand Théâtre Lumière at the Palais des Festivals on Wednesday, 15 May.

The series started with Mad Max (1979), then Mad Max II: The Road Warrior (1981), followed by Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985), and Mad Max: Fury Road in 2015.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is said to return to the origins of Furiosa, the new saga-heroine who appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road. Taylor-Joy plays the young Furiosa, who is trying to return home, despite numerous hostile armed gangs.

“The idea of this prequel has been with me for over a decade,” Miller has been quoted as saying. “I couldn’t be more thrilled to return to the Festival de Cannes – along with Anya, Chris and Tom – to share Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. There is no better place than La Croisette to experience this film with audiences on the world stage.”

The Festival organisers described Miller as a singular and unclassifiable filmmaker. He has been twice a Festival de Cannes Jury member before becoming its President in 2016 for the 69th edition. In 2022, he presented Three Thousand Years of Longing with Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, Out of Competition.

The Cannes Film Festival runs from 14 to 25 May with the full programme to be revealed in Paris on 11 April.

On the set, from left: Anya Taylor-Joy, director George Miller and Chris Hemsworth Photo: Jasin Boland